Battles
Introduction Endless Legend primarily employs an encounter based system wherein two armies on the map are represented on one hex, but spread out into their full size when in battle. Battles are launched when an army tries to enter a hex tile occupied by an enemy army. Battles can also be engaged towards cities and their garrisons (see Siege, page 32). Certain diplomatic conditions prevent you from attacking armies of another empire. Check the Diplomacy section to learn more. In any case, attacking armies of roaming Minor Factions is always possible. An important element of the battles in Endless Legend is that they take place directly on the Adventure Map, not on an abstract battlefield. When you decide to attack an enemy army, you should choose the location of the battle carefully to take advantage of terrain opportunities: Altitude may grant you a bonus, and cliffs can prevent enemy units from reaching you. Battle flow Encounter notification When you begin a battle with an enemy army, a notification appears to explain the order of battle: #Your forces are always located on the left, while the enemy is on the right #A Hero can lead each army, but is not required #The retainer units are listed here; you can mouse over each unit to read its information #Reinforcements (see “Resolution Phase”, below) can be chosen by clicking on the check box next to their army #Determine the order of arrival of your Reinforcements by selecting them, then using the arrow to move them. The army on top will be the first to appear in combat. #you can switch the army global behavior to Aggressive, Defensive, or Hold position #You can either control the battle manually or resolve it automatically. Auto resolution is much faster, but it does not allow you to have precise control over the battle’s progress. Once you are ready, click the chosen participation mode. Deployment phase The battle now changes to the Deployment Phase. The 3d view is simplified to show you the boundaries of the battle field. During this phase, you can place your units in position to maximize their effect. The game provides you with a default deployment, usually placing melee units in the front and ranged units behind them. You can change the global deployment by advancing or withdrawing your units, using the two buttons next to the “Launch” button. You can also left-click a unit and right-click the Battle Map to give it another destination on the valid battle hexes (those colored with your faction color). During your Deployment phase the enemy is also deploying, but you can only see the final positions when the phase is completed. Once your deployment is finished, click the “Launch” button. Order phase You can now see the deployment positions of both armies, and assign orders to your units. #Units are sorted by Initiative. The units on the left of the Initiative bar will act first, and the order of battle will progress from left to right. #Each unit shows its current order, which can be ##Attack an enemy unit ##Move to a location ##Support a friendly unit #You can select any unit on the battlefield to display its statistics. If you select a friendly unit, you can also assign another order by right-clicking the target: Enemy unit (attack), empty hex (move), or friendly unit (support) #When you select a unit, you can also switch its specific behavior to Aggressive, Defensive, or Hold Position (Global behavior is not affected) #You’ll see the targets that can be attacked with or without moving, and the movement range if required. If the unit targets a position, it will show the possible targets after this move and any additional movement required. #Once you are ready, click the “Ready” button The orders you give to your units are preliminary. As units act in order of initiative, the actions you requested can become irrelevant. If this is the case, your units will try to adapt to the most likely alternative using their selected behavior. Resolution phase When the Orders phase is completed the Resolution phase starts, where units act in order of initiative. For each action of the current unit (either friendly or enemy), its panel will appear along with (potentially) the panel of its target unit. Your units are always displayed on the left, the enemy units on the right. Units inflict damage on their selected target, and may suffer a counter-attack. Units can also trigger special abilities which give them an advantage. For example, the Wild Walkers archers slow down their enemies, and the Broken Lord Infantry recovers health when they destroy their target. At the beginning of each Resolution phase, reinforcement units can enter the fray from the reinforcement flag. Depending on the game settings, the battle can span several Order and Resolution phases. Once all these phases have completed, the battle ends. Encounter outcome notification When the battle ends, a new notification panel is presented that explains the outcome of the battle. The battle can result in a victory, defeat, or even a draw if both armies still have forces at the end of the engagement. In that case, the battle can resume on the next turn. Siege When a hostile force is on a tile next to a city tile, the army action "Siege" appears. This allows the army to set the city under Siege. A city under Siege will be surrounded by palisades on the Adventure Map (see image, below). This situation has the following effects on the output and resources of the city: *The countryside isn’t exploited anymore; only the tile with District and the City centre bring FIDSI. ( -100% FIDSI from exploitation tiles ) *All the region buildings outside the city (Watchtower, Resource extractor) are deactivated (no resources production) because of the loss of the connection between the city and them; their vision range is set to 0 too. The region buildings merged with a District are still active *The city cannot build any region building (Watchtower & Resource extractor) *The Science and Dust outcome are divided by 2 ( 1/2 DUST and SCI ) *The besieged city suffers from a loss of approval ( -10 APP ) *The units within the besieged city, or on a city tile have their regeneration deactivated *The city garrison can’t help in a battle, if the besieger isn’t related to it. *Each turn, the city loses defense points equal to the siege strength of the besieger. Once the defense is equal to 0; the units within the city garrison OR on a city tile loss as health as that strength. *The Loss has to be applied before the update of the construction queue in order to avoid the instant death of new created units *Hero in the besieging army or on the besieged city gain more experience( +2 XP / TURN) The Siege ends when the enemy army has been destroyed or when the city is conquered. Militia The Militia is a group of units generated by a City. They can only be used when a battle takes place and overlaps the city they are in. They can be improved by various research technologies. When a City is not under Siege, dead Militia will “resurrect” at 1 HP. Militia will then regenerate like any other unit (based on the City regeneration bonuses). Representation While it is beneficial to use heroes in combat, they are not necessary. If there is no hero in the army, then the army will be represented on the world map by the single strongest unit. Affectors Many things affect battle, including: Confidence, Sharp Sense, Initiative, Speed, Critical, Defense, and Attack. Attributes Attack & Defense The attacker's attack value is compared to the defender's defense value, along with a random die roll, to determine whether an attack deals full damage (hit), extra damage (crit - 150%), reduced damage (50%), or misses (no damage) Damage Damage is the default damage the unit will deal when scoring a hit. Battle Movement This is the distance in combat that your unit is able to travel. Not to be confused with Speed, representative of how fast they can move on the World Map. Base value determined by unit type. Infantry, ranged and support have value of 2, Flying - 3, Cavalry -4. Initiative The units with the higher initiative get to move and perform actions first Mechanic (needs confirmation) Number is rolled between 1 and (Attacking unit attack + defending unit defense) If rolled number > than defending unit defense then it is normal attack (full damage) If rolled number is much higher than defending unit defense then attack is critical (1.5x damage) If rolled number < than defense then attack fumbles (half damage) If rolled number is much lower than defense then its a miss (no damage) Capacities See detailed page: Capacities